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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Ahhhhh finally!!! The entire town of Augusta, Georgia (and no doubt most of the CSRA) has been patiently waiting for this day to come....the day when the Augusta episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition airs. For me, it's a chance to finally share some of my favorite shots with you!! I'd love to hear from you about what your favorite part about EMHE coming to Augusta was, so definitely leave a blog comment!!!

A couple days before Ty Pennington blew into town, I received a call from the show saying that Scribbletime was selected out of 40 Augusta, Georgia photographers who applied, to do on-location portraits of the family. Awesome!

What a cool experience to be part of, but the best part was that sooooo many people, including a lot of friends and fellow photogs, had a chance to be part of this great community effort as well. It was cool that the Girl Scouts and a girl power theme were such a huge part of this show, especially since the Girl Scouts was founded in Georgia. By the way, have you ordered your Girl Scout cookies?

Additionally, I am so happy that the show asks local businesses to donate services and goods....that gives it such a more personal and meaningful feel, and a definite sense of true community spirit.

It was a very happy and fun week in Augusta, Georgia, although EXTREMELY demanding...it's called Extreme Makeover for a very good reason!

I was so happy to meet the Graham family...they are as sweet as can be and so deserving, as you saw on the show. It's refreshing to know that the community was able to come together to help someone who has given so much of herself to the community. Here is one of the pictures in the house, except all the pictures hanging in the house are in black and white. All prints were kindly donated by Chris's Camera Center in Aiken, South Carolina. The manager of the store stayed late to do the printing and then personally delivered all the pictures to Augusta in time to meet the deadline for framing. Whew!

Doing the EMHE family session was quite an adventure & challenge. We had to stay right next to the set because they needed to pull the family for filming throughout our session. But it was f-u-n and we made the most of the little time we had together. We were laughing so much at one point that we got yelled at because we were too loud! OOPS!!

And then the volunteers arrived! Bill Beazley Homes stepped up to the plate and took on the challenge of building a home for the Graham family. Whew...what a huge effort!

And before you knew it, the Grahams were whisked away in a limo, off to Disneyland in sunny California. (oh, I wanted to hop in that limo with them but I might have gotten kicked off the set).

And just in case you were wondering what was the very first thing to be torn down, here it is...

And so my day of shooting on the set came to an end. I returned with my camera the day of the "Reveal" and ended up being just a mere spectator, along with a couple thousand of my closest spectator friends! Actually I did bump into quite a few people I know including my buddy Chuck, who is directly responsible for letting me have the absolute best spectator spot for taking pictures. And trust me, I took up a lot of space with my big pregnant belly. Such a gentleman!

And I love this shot....wouldn't ya know it out of thousands of spectators, one of the crew members was telling Ty to make sure he looks directly at MY camera when I'm taking pictures of him! (oh yes, I'm SURE that's what he was saying...haha!!)

See, he follows directions very well! Ty was locked out of the house, so who did he look for in the crowd to get that one & only "oops" shot? Yeah, Right. hahahaha!!!

Oh, one more thing....how awesome is it that the Graham family now has a miniature golf course in their beautiful Augusta, Georgia home, which happens to also be home to the greatest golf tournament in the entire world! If you know anything about me, you know I love golf....(photographing it, not playing), and I LOVE LOVE LOVE living right down the road from the Augusta National. As part of my "giving back" effort, I photograph charity golf tournaments in the Augusta area.

So, I'd like invite any of you who are golfers to participate in an upcoming charity golf tournament that is being organized by a SENIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL for his senior project. The proceeds will go to help pay medical bills for a dear high school friend of his, who was critically injured in a car accident. The tournament is February 28, 2011 at Jones Creek...you can go to this link to read more about how to register. Scribbletime will be there photographing the tournament & I hope you can join us!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

One unique service that Scribbletime is offering for 2011 is in-home "Smash the Cake" sessions for a baby's first birthday. Wow, only 8 days into the new year and the first in-home cake smash fun was already happening!

As Augusta was preparing for a wintry weather advisory to blow into town, this little guy was warm and cozy in his own home oblivious to the whipping winds and chilly weather outside!

He had just woken up from his nap, and I was so happy when his mom pulled out a gDiaper for him to wear during the session....those are my favorite diapers of all time, especially for pictures!

We had a lot of fun, but this little guy sure did prove me wrong. We should have put some broccoli or green beans inside the cake, because he definitely wasn't born with a sweet tooth. He was not so excited about the frosting being on his hands and he definitely wasn't going to attempt to actually eat it! This has to be the cleanest cake smash session ever...his mommy needed a bath more than he did at the end of the session!

His daddy gave him a little spoon to use but in the end, he decided it was more efficient to use a hammer to get the job done.

To this little guy's mommy and daddy: thanks so much for choosing Scribbletime for this session..I really enjoyed all the giggling we did.

A personal note about these sessions:

I love "Smash the Cake" sessions because they produce the cutest little images of the baby's first taste of pure sugar, and it's truly capturing a once in a lifetime moment. Never again will a baby turn one, and being big enough to dig into your own cake for the very first time all by yourself is truly reaching a milestone (although my pediatrician would totally disagree!!!). And the storyboards that result from this type of session are just adorable!

Clean up is easy because the parents don't have to worry about using a million baby wipes or giving their baby a bath in the studio sink. Because Scribbletime does these sessions in the comfort of your own home, the bathtub is just a few feet away..talk about convenience!

Cake smash sessions look best using a cake that is about 6" - 8"...anything larger or tiered is just too big. Parents provide the cakes for the sessions and we strip the baby down to the diaper. This cake came from A Piece of Cake Bakery and I like that they use a white base to put the cake on.

THE BLOG

Welcome to Scribbletime's blog. Find us on Facebook to keep up with all the latest news. Scribbletime is a proud member of the PPA. To schedule a session, contact Sharon at sharon@scribbletime.com or visit the website: www.scribbletime.com